EU states have voiced fear of violence during Belarus elections on Sunday (9 August), as president Aleksander Lukashenko seeks to maintain his third decade in power.
"We call on the Belarusian leadership to ... refrain from violence" and to "respect the will of the Belarusian people", the foreign ministers of France, Germany, and Poland said on Friday.
Lukashenko should "avoid using force against peaceful protesters", EU foreign relations chief Josep Borrell also said.
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Andrew Rettman is EUobserver's foreign editor, writing about foreign and security issues since 2005. He is Polish, but grew up in the UK, and lives in Brussels. He has also written for The Guardian, The Times of London, and Intelligence Online.